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Draven
Draven is a competitor robot from Cranbrook, Kent, that competed in the first series of Robot Wars Extreme and Series 8-9 of Robot Wars. It took part in a Wild Card Warrior battle against series veteran King B Powerworks in Extreme 1, but lost, and was defeated in its Group Battle in Series 8 after being damaged and immobilised by M.R. Speed Squared. The team was formed by a group of friends who met at the University of York, where they were studying Electronic Engineering. The Series 8 and 9 teams work together at a hand-dryer company - Dan Heggs and Leigh Salmon applied for a place on the team through this connection. Design Draven is a six-wheeled box-shaped robot armed with a hydraulic crushing jaw that operates with 4 tonnes of pressure. The jaw is mounted on a lifting arm, which allows the robot to lift approximately 200kg and self-right whenever it is flipped, although these actions have yet to be seen in televised combat. For its appearance in Robot Wars Extreme, Draven was painted silver all over, and was fitted with blue LED's to illuminate its eyes. However, these did not show up on-screen as well as the team had hoped, so they were later replaced with red LEDs. In 2016, Draven's armour was made of a carbon-fibre and Kevlar composite shell, with bonded-on titanium plates, giving it a black and silver colour scheme. The robot weighed 110kg in Series 8. Draven was updated again for Series 9. It features a new cad-based chassis, new drive motors, motor controllers, batteries, armour, pump with BLDC motor, and new radio systemshttps://www.facebook.com/Dravenrobot/videos/1781803485170585. The robot's body-shape and weaponry remains similar, but Draven returned to its silver colour-scheme. Its jaw now bites at double the speed of the previous version. Etymology Draven was originally given the name Anthrax and this name was used during the original airing of its Robot Wars Extreme appearance on BBC Choice. By the time the episode reached BBC Two, however, the name had to be changed due to an anthrax scare in the USA which occurred at the time. All usage of the original Anthrax name was removed and all subsequent airings of the episode remained this way, although Draven is still referred to by its original name in Robot Wars: The Ultimate Guide. This case was very similar to Roadblock years before, which had also required a name change due to concerns about its original name, Road Rage, being raised before filming of Series 1 began. The name Draven is inspired by the 1994 film The Crow, where the main character is called Eric Draven, and the robot Draven's beak is much like that of a crow. An official BBC press release referred to the Series 9 version of Draven as Lord Draven'http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2017/11/robot-wars, although this name has yet to be seen outside of this context. Draven's team later revealed that the Lord Draven name was a suggestion from the production crew, but the team were not interested in using it. Qualification Prior to entering Series 8, Draven had attempted to enter the original series of ''Robot Wars three times, but failed on every occasion as a result of its poor reliability. It first failed to qualify for Series 4, then lost its qualifier in Series 5 after it broke down and was reportedly dumped out of the arena by Shunt. Draven attempted to enter again in Series 6, but lost to S.M.I.D.S.Y. in its qualifier, and did not attempt to enter Series 7. Robot History Extreme 1 Draven was given its first chance to compete in the Wild Card Warriors, drawn against former Semi-Finalist and Tag Team Terror winner King B Powerworks, which was the inspiration for Draven's design. Anarchic Engineering were able to organise this battle with their inspiration after Pussycat was unable to competehttps://www.facebook.com/Dravenrobot/posts/1795644713786462:0. The battle started, and Draven manoeuvred its way towards the back of King B Powerworks, as the latter's saw blade was not spinning. However, Draven could not use its weapon either, and failed to grip King B Powerworks when it had various opportunities. Draven backed King B Powerworks into an empty CPZ, but was stabbed side-on by King B's prongs in retaliation. Draven and King B Powerworks attempted to attack each other in vain, causing no external damage, until Draven started to lose a noticeable amount of speed. At this stage, King B Powerworks used its prongs to wedge underneath Draven and lift it up, slotting the weaponry into one of Draven's wheelguards. Draven lifted its head up and down to show mobility, but it was pushed into the pit release button and turned directly into the pit. Series 8 Draven competed in Episode 2, facing fellow newcomers Chimera and Foxic, as well as a new robot from a veteran team, M.R. Speed Squared, in the first round. Draven made the first move in the qualifier, driving towards Foxic, but ending up on top of its wedge. Draven chased Foxic across the arena, catching up and slotting underneath the back of it, but failed to use its crushing jaw. Draven pushed Chimera, which had already lost a wheel, beyond the flame pit and into an empty CPZ. However, despite the strong start, Draven was then targeted by M.R. Speed Squared, which ripped a piece of armour away. Draven returned to attack the struggling Foxic, but M.R. Speed Squared caught up, and ripped another panel from Draven. This blow immobilised Draven, and it was counted out, eliminating it from the competition. Series 9 Draven will compete in Episode 2. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 2 Series Record DravenMockup.jpg|A mock-up of Draven during construction Draven being built.jpg|Draven being built Draven1.JPG|Draven in the pits during Extreme 1 DravenTeam.jpg|The team in the pits with Draven in Extreme 1 DravenSelfRights.jpg|Draven demonstrates its srimech at a live event DravenLiftsJudgeMech.jpg|Draven lifts the chassis of Judge Mech at a live event Draven Qualifiers.jpg|Draven as it looked at the Series 5 qualifiers, without its top Dravenpits.jpg|Draven in the pits during Series 8 Outside Robot Wars Following its appearance in Extreme, Draven was rebuilt, and made two appearances the ESAT/BT young scientist exhibition in Dublin, where it appeared alongside King B Powerworks, Bigger Brother, Razer, Panic Attack and Chaos 2. Trivia *When teams were given permission to publicly reveal their participation in Series 9 over social media, Draven was the first robot to be revealed this way. External Links *Draven - Robot Wars Facebook page *[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/season-8/week-2/draven/ Draven (Series 8) on the Robot Wars website] *[http://www.robotwars.tv/competitors/season-9/week-2/draven/ Draven (Series 9) on the Robot Wars website] References Category:UK Series competitors Category:Wild Card Warriors Category:Robots from Kent Category:Robots with names based on film and television Category:Robots from Schools or Universities Category:Robots with multiple appearances without winning a battle Category:Robots with Pincers Category:Robots which debuted in Extreme 1 Category:Robots to compete in both eras of Robot Wars